Page 2722 - Week 08 - Thursday, 24 August 2006
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time as this reduction has occurred, media marketing spending by tourism businesses has increased markedly—from $270 million in 2003 to $370 million in 2005.
Domestic tourism authorities have increased their expenditure. Travel agents, service and tour businesses, airlines and airports, and accommodation all increased their expenditure massively over that time, yet we have seen a reduction. So I do not think the research backs up the assertion that spending huge amounts of money on marketing, on all of those aspects, necessarily gives you a return. In fact, they found—
Mr Mulcahy: A little factor called terrorism had a slight impact.
MR BARR: No, over 20 years, Mr Mulcahy. That is one of the advantages of looking back a little, looking at it in the long run. A little bit of economic history is relevant here. Tourism Australia found, in fact, that really influencing domestic tourism and the decline are the changing nature of employment, busier lifestyles—
Mr Mulcahy: That is right, the WorkChoices legislation!
MR BARR: No, this is Tourism Australia’s research, the commonwealth government’s research. The changing nature of employment, busier lifestyles, changing attitudes to life and work amongst different generations, and competition from other activities. It is worth noting the expenditure on other consumables and other things that might be considered as discretionary spending by people. Spending on computing equipment is up nearly 50 per cent and on audiovisual equipment is up nearly 44 per cent, along with telecommunications services. Obviously there has been a shift in people’s expenditure patterns. They are filling their houses with wide-screen televisions and a whole range of audiovisual and computer equipment.
Presumably, there comes a point when you do run out of room in your house, that you have a wide-screen television in virtually every room, and those consumption patterns change. There is some optimism that that may occur. However, the great concern of Tourism Australia is that, as employment structures have become more flexible and there is more casual and more part-time work, many workers are choosing or being pressured to work longer hours. Whilst it might make them financially richer, they are time poorer and that needs to be taken into account.
Research by Tourism Australia has shown that there is a stockpile of 70 million days of unused annual leave in Australia, that nearly 60 per cent of full-time workers do not use their full four weeks annual leave each year and have accrued more than eight weeks of annual leave, that one-third of full-time workers do not take any annual leave in a year, that Australians work the longest hours in the developed world and that around 40 per cent of respondents to the survey cited workplace issues as the most significant barriers to taking leave. This includes finding someone to cover for people on leave and increased workload before or after leave.
What conclusions do Tourism Australia reach? They concluded that the broad trends that are having a negative impact on the performance of domestic tourism are that Australians are making fewer trips per head of population, that they are spending a lower proportion of their income on tourist activity, and that the appeal of domestic travel is declining relative to overseas travel. They say that as lives get busier, leisure time is spent relaxing
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